Why baby boomers and retirees are ditching Florida for Appalachia

The stereotype of baby boomers moving to Florida post-retirement is one of the oldest around. But while many people from that generation have indeed retired to the Sunshine State, recent reports indicate that boomers are now abandoning Florida for an unlikely alternative: Southern Appalachia, a region that includes Northern Georgia, the Carolinas, and portions of Tennessee and Virginia. 

An influx of boomers moving to Appalachia is "transforming the region from poor, serene and rustic to a bustling retirement haven," said a recent report in The Wall Street Journal. These boomers have become known in Appalachia as "halfbacks," which the Journal said is a "reference to how many first moved from the Northeast and Midwest down to Florida before settling somewhere in between."

Historically, this region has been besieged by negative press coverage, painting a "portrait of Appalachia the same way: poor, backward and white," NPR said. However, in shifting the demographics of the region, boomers may alter that narrative. What is specifically causing this change, and what's next for the Appalachians? 

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Why are boomers moving from Florida to Appalachia?

Most of the boomers moving to Appalachia are "drawn by lower housing costs and living expenses, lower taxes, lower insurance costs, low crime, warm weather (but with seasons) and less chance of hurricanes," the Journal said. One retired couple, Ed Helms and his wife Johnnie Helms, moved from Panama City Beach, Florida, to Northern Georgia to escape rising costs of living and hurricanes.  

Property insurance in Panama City Beach "was going sky high," Helms said to the Journal. The couple was "tired of being unable to find a place to sit in restaurants. Everything was getting out of reason. We wouldn't go back for anything." 

Other hypotheses for the recent demographic change include a pandemic-inspired longing for quiet and the natural world. The Covid-19 pandemic "helped fuel interest in Appalachia because people wanted to get back to nature and leave crowded areas," Gayle Manchin, the Appalachian Regional Commission's co-chair and wife of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), said to the Journal. Manchin "expects southern Appalachian growth to continue as more Americans retire."

How is this change affecting Appalachia?

The boomer shift has caused a sudden population surge in Appalachian areas that were previously rural. It has "brought forth a sort of whiplash," Business Insider said, as "counties once defined by miles of countryside now see sustained development — newly-sprouted retirement communities featuring upscale amenities."

All of these new retirees need places to shop and eat. So, unsurprisingly, big-box stores "have also crept further into Southern Appalachia, where local downtowns have long been the economic engines of many towns and small cities," said Business Insider. Major chain restaurants and shopping destinations like Walmart have become commonplace throughout the region.

All of this has resulted in a major spike in the number of people living in the region. From April 2020 to July 2022, the population in Southern Appalachian counties designated "retirement" or "recreational areas" increased by 3.8%. This is more than six times the national average, said Hamilton Lombard, a demographer at the University of Virginia, to the Journal. 

Georgia's Dawson County — where the Helms live — has seen some of the largest growth in Appalachia. Dawson saw a 12.5% population increase from 2020 to 2022, ballooning the county's population to more than 30,000, plus the "population aged 65 years or older reached 21% of the county in 2022, up from 14.1% in 2010," said the Journal. 

How do native Appalachians feel about this?

Many appear angry at the development. In Dawson County, arguments "erupt regularly on Dawson Facebook pages over newcomer-spurred traffic, which has been a shock to the folksy culture for which this Republican-dominated county is known," the Journal said. 

For many of the residents native to Appalachia, the influx of boomers is "transforming the region and causing a major effect on the rural communities who have resided there for generations," the Tallahassee Democrat said. The continuing population bumps "have caused longtime residents of Appalachia to worry about rising housing costs and impacts to the environment," the Democrat added.

"They ought to go back where they come from," Helen Anderson, who has lived in Dawson County her whole life, said to the Journal.